The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1887-01-20
LAST OF THEIR RACE.
| The Smiths oman Institution Secures n Few
Specimens of Buffalo.

Specimens of Buffalo.
William r. Hornaday. chief taxider-
mist of the National Museum at WASH
ington, has returned from an extended
/ buffalo hunt in Montana. He is nat
uralist of considerable note and is the
author of Two Years in the Jungle"
published by Scribners, which grapbi-
cally describes his adventures while
making extensive collections of tigers,
elephants, gavials, etc, in India and
orang-outangs i'll Borneo. Mr.. Horna-
days mission in Montana has been 10
secure complete series of specimens OF
! the buffalo for the National collections,
| aud it has taken him two months to ac-
complish his work.
''Tne buffalo," said Mr.. Hornaday,
''has been swept off from our Western
| plains in a remarkably short time.
| Where once vast herds of bison roamed
| through the whole country between the
| Saskatchewan and Southern Texas and
| buffalo-hunting was comparatively
! tame sport, there are now but few
| hundreds of The noble animals left, and
/ thev are as shy and wild as deer. In
| 1883 the last great herd that has been
seen went into the British Possessions
and seems to have disappeared entirely.
| In Texas there are now not more than a
! hundred buffalo, while in the Yellow
stone divide east of Miles City, Mont,
where we hunted, there are not more
| than sixty. In the Yellowstone Park
preserves there are perhaps hundred
and fifty which cannot be killed, while
/ we were unable to learn of single one
! in the British Possessions. The divide
between the waters of the Yellowstone
and the Missouri contains about 1000
| square miles. and some of it is about
| The toughest, widest, and poorest coun-
| lrr III America. The soil is so friabe
that small streams of water make deep
gullies, or coolies" as they are called,
which, when covered with snow, are
very deceptive and dangerous 10 horse
men.
I'VE hunted this whole tract of coun-
! try over with the utmost perseverance
! for two months, and the net result of
our hunt is twenty-five skins, sixteen
skeletons, and fifty skulls for sthc Ma
| lional collections. The success of the
expedition was exceedingly problemati-
cal from the start. as the species is so
nearly extinct. Iconfess, however. that
| was pretty well discouraged when 1
reached Miles City and talked with the
old settlers and the cowboys. why,
! stranger said one veteran buffalo
| hunter, we haven't seed buffalo in
these here parts for three years. Bets
were freely offered in my presence that
our party wouldn't secure a single
| buffalo, and there were no takers. How
ever, we secured three cowboys, two
soldiers. one OF whom acted rs our cook,
ten horses, and four mule teams, and
left for the divide, where every one
agreed buffalo would be found if any,
where. In a months time we had
secured ten specimens and were living
on buffalo meat 1t WAS hard work,
though, TO find the bison. and still
! harder work to catch and kill them
when found. We gave ourselves no
rest, us | knew it was the last chance
I at specimens, As a result the Smith
sonan now has the finest series of
buffalo specimens, of all sizes, ages, and
sexes that exists anywhere.
valuable? Yes, suppose the series,
which it cost us $1,000 to get, could not
be duplicated for less than 1000 or
$4,000. III ten or fifteen years, when
the race has become entirely extinct,
those skins will be worth more than
their weight in gold. We were just in
the nick OF time to secure them. Next
year would have been eternally too
late. Indeed the Montana cowboys
universally allowed that ours was tine
In kie-t outfit that had come into the
territory
Mr., Hornaday was very pronounced
in his opinion of the Indians and the
way they are supported in idlencss by
the government. Why" said he,
'they are lhiev,ng. lying set of loafers
who ought to be made 10 earn their
living. We had one painful experience
with IL wandering band of Assiniboines
which cost us II handsome skeleton.
One of our cowboys had sighted fine
old bull, and after hard chase of
fifteen miles had brought him to grass.
1t was Il long distance from camp and
the hour was late. SO he dressed the
buffalo and left it until we could come
and get 1t in the morning. When we
came upon the ground we found that
the Indians had carried off the skin and
meat and had mutilated the skeleton.
The head they could not take, SO. daub-
ing it with red and yellow war-paint,
they tied a red rag OF bold defiance to
one of the horns. ;"